I'm back! With two chapters to thank you for your patience and inspiring reviews :D

A couple of FYIs- Telling Time is set 5 months after Knowing, which is set towards the end of season 3. I deny the existence of Nicole (in this story, anyway.) And most of what happens in LL's relationship remains the same- it just happens earlier.

Life Support

Lorelai felt the absence of Rory acutely. The warm presence blocking the draft from her cold, wet body was missing, and so was her only reason for holding herself together. She had to be strong for Rory. It was a deal they had; they were always strong for each other when they couldn't be strong for themselves. But Rory had left her, and she was so afraid. Absently her fingers worried the hem of the thin blanket around her, and she bit her lip and closed her eyes, feeling dizzy. She felt a hand on her shoulder and looked up, mildly surprised to see the friendly nurse at her side again.

"They just gave me Mr. Danes's personal effects," she said. "I thought you might like to have them." She spoke calmly, gently, and her voice was as soothing as if she were talking to a frightened child. Lorelai looked at her and wondered why she was treating an adult so strangely, and then suddenly she saw herself through the nurse's eyes. She was sitting huddled in an uncomfortable hospital waiting chair, clutching a blanket like her life depended on it. She hadn't spoken more than a few syllables since her panicked outburst when they first arrived; she felt helpless and hopeless and she knew she looked that way, too. No one would recognize her if they saw her now. No one would recognize Lorelai, who was always in control and took command, who always knew what to do in a crisis, who always reassured everyone else. Get a grip, Gilmore, she told herself with self-disgust. You've got to get a grip. You haven't lost him yet. Quit acting like a swooning idiot.

"Thanks," she said hoarsely, then cleared her throat. "Thank you. And I'm okay. You don't have to worry about me- I know you're busy. I'm okay," she said again, almost meaning it this time.

The nurse nodded, relieved to see the distraught woman had recovered somewhat. She handed an open manila envelope to Lorelai and went back to her desk.

Lorelai considered the envelope for a moment, then with a swift, decisive movement emptied it into her lap. Luke's keys jingled as they slid out, and clinked when they made contact with his watch. A black leather wallet was the last thing in the envelope, and Lorelai froze when she saw it. She knew what she was going to find in there, and she already knew she had to look for it. It was going to upset her very shaky façade of calm and self-control, but there was no help for it. Slowly she opened up the wallet to the few plastic sleeves that held photographs. An old one of a woman, and a man who looked like Luke. His parents. One of a boy, who she instantly recognized by his scowl as a young Luke, and a younger girl. His sister. One of Jess, who obviously didn't know the picture was being taken; he would never pose for a photo. One of herself and Rory in their Halloween costumes from two years ago- she'd given them out in Christmas cards.

And one of herself alone, laughing. Tucked into the pocket along with the photo was a tiny scrap of newspaper. She already knew what it said, but she took it out anyway. It was a horoscope prediction from a 1995 newspaper. Under Scorpio scribbled writing that she recognized as her own read "Today you will meet an annoying woman. Give her coffee and she will go away." She'd given it to him the first time they'd met, and jokingly told him to keep it in his wallet so it would bring him luck. On their first official date he'd shyly shown it to her, and she had been touched beyond measure that he'd kept it for so long. She was it for Luke. That was a hard reality to come to terms with, that she was the woman he was pinning all his hopes and dreams and future on. She'd been so afraid she was going to blow it, and break his heart, until she'd figured out that he was it for her, too. She just had to tell him, and for the thousandth time that night her heart clenched with regret and guilt that she'd waited too long. She would never, ever forgive herself if she lost the opportunity to tell him, and the chance at that opportunity was out of her hands now. She stared at the horoscope for a last second, then carefully replaced it, feeling tears prick at her eyes.

"Lorelai!" an out-of-breath Sookie raced into the waiting room, just as Rory returned down the corridor.

"Sookie St. James, how fast did you drive?" Rory asked in amazement. She'd only hung up the phone with the woman fifteen minutes ago, and Stars Hollow was nearly thirty miles away.

"I plead the fifth," Sookie answered, gasping, pressing her hand against the stitch in her side. "And I called Patty."

"You called Patty?" Rory repeated hopefully.

Lorelai looked at Rory accusingly. "You called Sookie?"

"Of course she did!" Sookie answered indignantly. "You need me!" She reached into her oversized shoulder bag and pulled out a tupperware container. "And I brought something chocolate."

"I do need you," Lorelai agreed with a half-smile. She felt better, stronger, with her two best friends on either side of her. "But you didn't have to come- it's late, and Jackson's-"

"Jackson can deal," Sookie scoffed. "He knows you'd be there in a second for me, if anything ever happened to him." She looked at Lorelai hesitantly. "What did happen to Luke?"

Lorelai stirred her shoulders defensively. "I don't know," she said tightly. "We were driving home from my mother's and his truck was wrecked on the side of the road. I wasn't- I didn't- I had trouble forming sentences, let alone questions. We just followed the ambulance here. He's in surgery, that's all they'll tell me."

Sookie nodded, processing the information. She took Lorelai's hand and gripped it hard, and looked her right in the eye. "Hang on, sweetie," she said reassuringly. "And don't worry- he already knows."

"I didn't tell him," Lorelai muttered to herself guiltily, not even intending for anyone else to hear. Sookie shook her head to negate her words.

"It doesn't matter," she said firmly. "He already knows."